This book is thankfully out of print as it presents an absurd fantasy vision of Iraq that ignores and mystifies the grim realities of Islamist terror and civil war. This book spoke of events that were, in the view of the authors and translator, "at the same time promising and terrible." In my view these events are and were only the latter.

Despite the disappointing content, the book is beautifully printed. It also contains one of my favorite line of the last few years: "Freedom needs the storm, but in the storm it is difficult to maintain the sense of the life for which we fight." It should be clear to everyone by now that freedom isn't waiting on the other side of the storm in Iraq, regardless of which side is the victor. ( )